TRAVEL: Incubator Looks to Help Cos. and Airports Tap Innovation

A small crowd filed in between the baggage claim and ticket desks at the San Diego International Airport. It wasn’t part of the airport’s annual Thanksgiving rush, but arrived instead to watch five startups deliver their pitches.

DINING: Food, Art and Welcoming Environment Make an Impression

When San Diego-bred brothers Alex and Eric Adler first had the idea of opening a Mexican-inspired restaurant almost a decade ago, their immediate inclination was to create an upgraded version of the traditional Southern California hole-in-the-wall taco shop.

The San Diego International Airport is looking to make parking, and hauling luggage between trips, less of a pain. Its new Airport Innovation Lab graduated its first cohort of startups Nov. 14, all of which focused on improving one of these two pain points.

For Solana Beach resident, Sheila Olinger, the convenience of flying out of an airport that is smaller, closer to home and has $5 all-day parking made taking the first-ever California Pacific Airlines flight Nov. 2 from Carlsbad’s McClellan-Palomar Airport a no-brainer.